How You Get to Own a Gun in Japan

No need to take this at face-value; you can, of course, search further. I share it to stimulate your looking into it further, not only as to Japan, but as to other nations.

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1. You must attend an all-day ownership class, then pass a written test. Classes are offered 1x/month.

2. You must take and pass a shooting-range test.

3. You must go to hospital and be evaluated as to drug use and overall mental fitness.

4. You must file the results of these tests with the police.

5. You must pass a rigorous background check affirming you've no criminal record and have no association with extremist and criminal groups.

6. You must tell police where your firearms and ammunition are (separately) kept and locked.

7. The police will inspect your continuing home for continuing compliance and you will be re-tested every three years.

Japan is a nation of nearly 130,000,000 people and very rarely has more than ten gun-related deaths in any year. This suggests a serious move toward sense since the Second War when, as we know, Japan's culture was shot-through w governmental militarism and cultural sensibility. Nations can change when they see change as a societal interest.

In 1876, during the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese Emperor sought to reaffirm state power and authority over Daimyo, Ronin (wayward, itinerant samurai), and roving bands of samurai who refused to be tamed by the Emperor, through the banning of swords. During this time, the feudal nobility and samurai caused lots of disorder and violence, challenged state authority, and often used their weaponry to prey upon the peasantry and middle classes (caste and caste-based violence were banned by Japan in 1871). The emperor enacted something called a "sword hunt" which ensured that only members of the military or the police could own military weaponry. This was a necessary step in ending warlordism, anarchy, banditry, brigandage, and roving bands of paramilitary forces who kept perpetually plunging Japan into anarchy (and threatened the power of the Emperor).

Japan's modern day gun laws stem from this, and both guns and swords are regulated under the same circa 1870s statutes (which, of course, have been upgraded and amended).

The idea is that local police should not have to wage gun-fights or sword-fights with criminals or militias. The police and military's monopoly of force is a sign of the emperor's status and the complete sovereignty of the state.

Many gun-rights folks in the US explicitly endorse the acquisition of guns, because they want to be able to challenge our democratically-elected government and resist its authority. This, in of itself, is a cause for concern. And a common one, globally.